Delegate Addie Eckardt, right, recently presented a new state flag to Capt. Frank Newton for the skipjack Nathan of Dorchester, recognizing the boat’s activities as an ambassador promoting the local heritage throughout the Chesapeake Bay.

The boat also received a new City of Cambridge flag, presented earlier by Clerk-Treasurer Ed Kinnamon. Eckardt joined members of the Dorchester Skipjack Committee at its reception welcoming the captains and crews of the skipjacks participating in the 2012 Choptank Heritage Skipjack Race. The Nathan placed third in the race, behind the H. M. Krentz and Rebecca T. Ruark.

For more information, to charter the boat or to volunteer, contact the Dorchester Skipjack Committee at 410-228-7141 or visit its website, www.skipjack-nathan.org.

It’s summer and 100 degrees in Easton, MD and the studio at Eastern Shore Yoga is beginning to fill up for its evening, hot yoga class. The studio is a muscle limbering 88 degrees and the students are chatting, rolling out mats, preparing for a sweaty, vigorous class—looking forward to going to their edge. So what brings people of varying genders, ages, and bodies to yoga in general and Eastern Shore Yoga (ESY) in particular?

I know what brought me to yoga, and anyone with an angst-ridden, 16-year-old, teenage daughter would understand completely, stress release. It was 2000 and I had just moved with my husband and two daughters to Pittsburgh, PA. My teenage daughter left behind her high school, friends, and “the boy she loved” in Georgia. She hated life and especially me. So when a newfound friend of mine suggested I take a yoga class with her, I reluctantly agreed, thinking a group of women sitting around chanting and stretching was not going to cure my ills. I needed something stronger, like military school for girls, or a bottle of scotch for me. What I found was something that changed my life, my relationship with my daughter, and my body.

Talbot Humane’s third annual Bark in the Park family festival will feature even more activities for people and pets as it continues to grow in popularity as a community event. The free festival takes place on Saturday, October 20th, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Idlewild Park in Easton.

New this year, Annapolis Volvo is sponsoring a 10K run and a 5K fun run/walk for human participants, starting at 9 and 9:15 a.m., respectively, from Easton Middle School, one block from Idlewild Park. Registration for the races opens there at 8 a.m.

The Dog Walk returns for the canines, along with the Fun Dog Show, which allows owners an opportunity to match their dogs against others in ten categories including talent, looks, size and costumes. L.P. Palmer and his Yorkshire Terrier, Jake, won both Best Look Alike and Best in Show at last year’s Bark in the Park Dog Show.

Registration fees apply for the runs, Dog Walk and Dog Show, with registration available in advance through the Talbot Humane website, www.talbothumane.org. Registration for the 10K and 5K also is available through Active.com.

Local author David Healey always has an eye on history, and recently he wrote a book about the Chesapeake Bay’s legendary hurricanes, blizzards, fogs and freezes. Whenever possible in the pages of Great Storms of the Chesapeake, he focused on how the weather impacted the people who lived—or didn’t live—through the storms.

How far back does the book go?

I focused on the last 400 years, which is really the scope of European settlement here on the Chesapeake Bay. The book starts off with how William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest was likely inspired by stories about New World storms—particularly a hurricane that shipwrecked the future governor of the Virginia colony. You can imagine how these wild, wild storms captured the imagination back home in England. One of the worst storms of all time on Chesapeake Bay struck in 1667 and was quite devastating to early Marylanders and Virginians.

What was the worst blizzard here?

Though it would be hard to beat the record snowfall of the 2009-2010 winter, if you look to the 1800s there are a couple of storms that really knocked Marylanders back on their heels. For example, the blizzard of 1888 devastated coastal areas from the Chesapeake up to New England. But I think the blizzard of 1899 was particularly noteworthy for a couple of reasons. First, it was bitterly cold with temperatures in the single digits. Second, the snow lasted over several days so it was hard to dig out. Drifts piled up in downtown Baltimore and reportedly up to the second-story windows of homes west of the city. It was the cusp of the modern era with telephones and H.L. Mencken traipsing through the snow as a cub reporter, and yet we had to rely on shovels and horses to clear the roads and streets. By the time the next big storm hit in the 1920s we had cars and snowplows on trucks.

Unique instructional art opportunities are being offered at DCA in October. A variety of mediums are available and newcomers are welcome.

Oil Painting for Beginners and Intermediates - Taught by Tom Ryan

Students will learn to paint with oils in this class that is suitable for beginners or students continuing to perfect their skills. Beginners learn the fundamentals of still life painting including color, composition, form, and materials, while intermediate students hone existing skills and explore more complex challenges. More advanced students will complete finished, professional quality work. The session is held Monday mornings, 9 a.m. – noon and will run for six weeks, beginning October 1. Fees are $95 members, $135 non-members.

Learn the “know how” of creating a painting from your own photos. Students will be shown: how to compose a painting using basic elements in their subjects; how to use light and color; the importance of linear and atmospheric perspectives and how to understand what they see. Basic principles of drawing will be reviewed. The class is oriented toward marine and landscape oil painting and is open to students at all levels of painting experience. A supply list is available. The class will meet for four weeks beginning Monday, October 8. Fees are $195 for DCA members; $235 fro non-members.

Londonderry Retirement Community in Easton, MD, one of several cooperative retirement communities nationwide, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with an open house on October 18 from 2 to 4 p.m. at its Community Center following the planting of a time capsule by its residents. The reception will feature decadent desserts, champagne and tours of the community. All are welcome to attend.

In 1992, Londonderry Retirement Community was built on 24-acres at the head of the Tred Avon Creek, originally part of a 1664 land grant known as Westmoreland that was granted to Irish immigrant Francis Armstrong. As the property changed hands over the next 100 years, it became known as London Derry, and eventually Londonderry, as it is called today.

In addition to 88 cottages and 26 apartments, Londonderry Retirement Community owns a Gothic Revival manor house, which was built at the end of the Civil War for a surgeon in the U.S. Navy, and an associated working windmill. The house, listed on the Maryland Historical Trust’s (MHT) Historic Sites Inventory, was designed by prominent architect Richard Upjohn. Upjohn, a founding member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), also designed Trinity Church and the Church of the Ascension in New York City. Locally, he designed the Christ Church Rectory and the Trippe-Beale House in Easton.

The Dorchester Center for the Arts (DCA) is announcing a Call for Artists for their Annual Dorchester County Community Photography & Digital Arts Exhibit and Competition. This Photography Show is open to the public and offers three divisions: Youth, Amateur Adult, and Professional Adult. The show will run November 1-24.

The DCA Annual Photography Show is open to the public. The show is judged and each photographer may enter up to three works. Please number your submissions in order of preference, in the unlikely event that we run out of space for hanging. Work must be original and never before shown at the Dorchester Center for the Arts.

Senior Services & Community Transit is inviting all amateur photographers 55+ to submit their favorite digital photographs in the 2013 “Heart of Cecil County” Calendar Photo Contest. The 2013 edition of the calendar will once again feature photographs taken by folks 55+ all around the county. We’ll take a look through the lens of your camera to find the ‘heart’ of our county – what makes it special to you, what makes it good. Your inspiration might come from a special event, a beautiful scene, a remarkable person. The sky’s the limit, as long as it’s located in Cecil County!

Visit our website: www.cecilssct.org and click on the camera button to access a contest packet. Or stop by the Elkton Center or the Healthy Lifestyles Fitness Center (both located at 200 Chesapeake Blvd. in Elkton) to pick up a contest packet. For more information, please call 410-996-5295 or email Laura Miller or Janice Palmer (lmiller@ccgov.org or jpalmer@ccgov.org). The contest ends September 28, 2012. Send in your entry soon…and hit us with your best shot!

The 16th Bay to Ocean Writers Conference (BTO), sponsored by the Eastern Shore Writers’ Association, is scheduled for Saturday, February 23, 2013, at Chesapeake College, in Wye Mills, MD. The 2012 conference set records, selling out for the fifth year in a row, reaching 192 participants, and featuring 24 knowledgeable speakers. Of the 2012 conference participants, 60% were new to the conference, coming from Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Richard Mason, MD, was recently recognized as an Everyday Hero. A grateful patient made a donation to Shore Health System after receiving a joint replacement from Dr. Mason.

The Everyday Hero Program gives patients and their families an opportunity to thank a Shore Health physician, employee or volunteer by making a financial donation in their name. For more information, call 410-822-1000, ext. 5915.